LTE, short for Long Term Evolution, is the fourth wireless standard that provides theoretical download speeds of over 1gbps. Verizon was first to the market with LTE, followed by AT&T, Sprint, and lastly, T-Mobile. Carriers are providing smartphone, tablets, and other connected devices that take advantage of these faster data speeds.

Last summer, we talked about the controversy surrounding Verizon and its war on free tethering. The carrier requested that Google block access for its users to apps in the then-Android-Market, trying to ensure that tethering was only available to subscribers paying Verizon an extra fee. An advocacy group took the issue to the attention of the FCC, where it attempted to argue that certain provisions Verizon agreed to when getting its LTE spectrum prohibited the carrier from restricting access to apps. A long time's passed since then, but today the FCC has revealed the outcome of its ...

The Samsung Galaxy S III is the latest Android superphone to come out of South Korea. It's available for most carriers in the States and in an international flavor for our friends in other countries, which Pocketnow's Brandon Miniman gave the high marks in his extensive review. This time we're taking a close look at the Verizon version. Will she be able to match up with the other versions we've reviewed? Does she have any tricks hiding up her proverbial sleeves? Let go find out! Video Review · Specs · Hardware · UI · Camera · Performance · Battery ...

LG's next big smartphone in the US could be the Optimus LTE2, for which we've seen plenty of evidence suggesting the phone's on its way to Verizon. The latest info to arrive suggest it will make its debut as the Spectrum 2, which only seems logical as the original Optimus LTE hit Verizon as the first Spectrum. As US carriers are wont to do, AT&T picked yet another name for its own Optimus LTE, and brought it to its network as the LG Nitro HD. Owners of that handset are in for a nice treat, as the carrier has just announced the coming arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich. Starting next week, ...

RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook tablets are unique among the company's current-generation hardware as they're the only ones, according to leaked RIM documents, at least, that are on-track for getting upgrades to BlackBerry 10 when it arrives early next year. We've been hearing that sometime before then, RIM would come out with a 4G-capable PlayBook, and we caught a glimpse at what looks like the tablet back in April (above). More recently, there have been rumors that the manufacturer would use the opportunity of introducing a new model to upgrade the tablet's processor, as well. Now the new 4G ...

For me, the Galaxy Nexus LTE was a series of firsts: it was my first Verizon phone, first LTE device, and my first smartphone with "Nexus" branding. All these attributes were impressive: Verizon's network had a top-notch reputation, LTE was rumored to be super-fast, and getting a Nexus device was supposed to be the short road to timely Android updates and the coolest Google-sourced features. This combination of positives helped justify the $299 expense, and filled me with hope for great things when I bought the phone back in January. Six months later, have these dreams come to pass? Has ...

CDMA devices have been a thorn in the side of the AOSP for some time now. Google explained the issues at hand when it made a statement back in February, pointing out how the need for carrier-signed binaries containing critical communications code was getting in the way of developers being able to build Android for these devices. Luckily, things started looking up just last week, with new binaries becoming available for the Nexus S 4G on Sprint. At the time, the situation still looked bleak for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. A week later, the tide has really turned, and last night's publication ...

Late last week, HTC sent out a tweet that appeared to finally confirm what we had all been hearing, that the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE would make its retail debut on Verizon sometime this week. Since July 5 had been mentioned as a possible release date before, that seemed like the obvious candidate. Sure enough, Verizon has now come through with an announcement of its own, confirming that date and finally revealing the smartphone's price. There were some early Droid Incredible 4G LTE discoveries, all the way back in April, that might have had you thinking the phone would launch with a ...

Sprint's been selling LTE-capable smartphones for two months now, but has yet to start offering LTE service to its subscribers, requiring users of those phones to subsist on 3G EV-DO data. If you've got one of those models, like the HTC EVO 4G LTE, or are about to pick up Samsung's Galaxy S III (hitting Sprint stores on July 1), it's nearly time to tap into the speeds your phone's really capable of, at least if you're living in the right markets; Sprint has announced the start of its LTE service, kicking-off in just over two weeks on July 15. If you're looking to tap into Sprint LTE speeds ...

U.S. variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III have been announced (and anticipated) on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon. Some carrier subscribers were luckier than others but Verizon fans seem to have to wait forever for their phone to be available. Initially, the Verizon Galaxy S III should have been available on July 9, which was before it got pushed back one day to July 10. Then came rumors of a July 11 availability -- later confirmed by Verizon on their website with the patches on the phone -- and the latest report comes from HHGregg who have a nice banner up on their page that says ...

It's been quite some time since Sony introduced the Xperia Ion for AT&T at the beginning of the year at CES. However, six months later, the phone is available for purchase online at the carrier, going for $99.99 with a two-year contract (or $449.00 outright). It's been so long since its introduction that you might need to refresh your memory with our hands-on video. As far as specs are concerned, the Xperia Ion packs a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 4.6-inch 720p display, and a twelve-megapixel camera, in addition to LTE compatibility on AT&T. The downside -- of running ...

At MWC HTC introduced it's new generation of Android phones, the One family, out of which the flagship was the One X, packing a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 SoC. Unfortunately, due to chip restrictions, LTE was only possible with the price of downgrading the processor to a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, which was often as fast as the quad-core chip. The rumor mill never stops though and, since it is in motion, brings us a report concerning a future possible HTC One XXL which would bring the best of both worlds. Not only it will pack LTE functionality but it will also feature a Qualcomm ...

We've gotten a bit of information on some upcoming Motorola devices, including a pair of LTE-capable, Ice Cream Sandwich-powered handsets for Verizon and AT&T. First is the Motorola Vanquish, which will be sold worldwide, and which has already been spotted in some EXIF data going by the name Droid RAZR HD for Verizon. As its name suggests, this will be the first high definition model in the Droid range, sporting a 1280 x 720 pixel display. Vanquish is coming to Verizon under model number XT926, to China as XT922 and XT980, and globally as the XT923 (UMTS) and XT925 (LTE). Next is the ...

We've known for some time that Sprint's iDEN network, acquired when the carrier merged with Nextel, was on its way out. As Sprint starts ramping-up development of its LTE infrastructure, frequencies relegated to iDEN are becoming far too valuable to let stagnate with that aging service, and Sprint has it in its mind to make better use of those bands. The company has now revealed that it indents to pull the final iDEN plug by the end of June, 2013. What does this mean for smartphone users? If you recently bought a push-to-talk Android on Sprint, you're probably already in the clear. ...

Despite the delay rumors Samsung went ahead and made the Galaxy S III official today for 28 countries -- and despite today's launch the phone is not quite available yet for many who are waiting for it. However, there was no word of a U.S. launch just yet and we hoped that Samsung has learned from its past mistakes with the Galaxy S II. It appears that the South Korean company did indeed learn, at least according to TJ Kang, SVP Media Services for Samsung, who said that "unlike previous product launches, the time lag will be much more compressed for the Galaxy S III". "So I think it will ...

After having announced the (then-named) Windows Phone 7 Series platform at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft planned a flashy New York City event in the fall of that same year to show off the first devices that would be bestowed with the Windows ecosystem's answer to Apple and Google's foray into mobile. There were a handful of devices, though one stood out to us in particular: the Samsung Focus, which seemed to have the best screen, the snappiest performance, and the most impressive thin-and-light form factor. The Focus went on to be one of the best-selling early Windows Phone 7 ...

After a brief hold-up in US Customs, the HTC EVO 4G LTE has finally started shipping out to customers, and some are already reporting their new smartphones arriving. As they start to put these handsets through their paces, it's become clear that even without LTE service up-and-running, the EVO 4G LTE is support simultaneous connections to Sprint's CDMA voice and EV-DO data services. Simultaneous voice and data on CDMA networks has been talked about for years, but it's been slow to see implementation. That's not helped any by the very low-key way that Sprint's apparently been deploying new ...

Let's cut to the chase: there's almost certainly a new iPhone coming out later this year. Whether it will drop in October, as the latest speculation suggests, or some other time in the fourth quarter is anyone's guess. What's certain is that this iPhone will see a few upgrades. What's slightly less than certain, but still highly probable, is that those upgrades will be major. Whether or not you were disappointed with the iPhone 4S announcement, you have to admit that it was a very minor step up from its previous iteration. Of course, "major" is a relative term. Apple's halo device family ...

Along with the Galaxy Nexus, Sprint offered subscribers their first chances to grab an LTE-capable phone (in anticipation of the carrier starting service) with the LG Viper 4G LTE. We saw the Android launch back in April, sporting a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon, a four-inch WVGA screen, and a gigabyte of RAM. If all that sounded good to you, but you look for phones that are on Team QWERTY, you might want to check out the LS860 Cayenne, tipped for future arrival at Sprint. The Cayenne is, based on what leaked specs are available, a duplicate of the Viper, with the addition of a sliding ...

If you're looking for a smartphone on Sprint’s website you'll find enough options to make your head spin. By my count there are 42 devices: four of them are iPhones, 19 are running Android. HTC is in comeback mode. It's put a fresh face on Sense UI, brought out some new devices, and shown us some very impressive specifications. The latest Android-powered smartphone to join Sprint's ranks is the HTC EVO 4G LTE, essentially a modified One X. Like its AT&T sibling, the EVO 4G LTE has a gorgeous display, unique design, and feels like a very well-built device. Inside the Box The box ...

Yesterday, we saw Verizon clear up a few things about upcoming updates for some of its Android lineup that would bring these CDMA phones the ability to roam globally on GSM-based networks. All told, the carrier committed to getting this feature out to the Droid 4, RAZR, RAZR Maxx, and Rezound sometime over the summer. Today we get a hint of just how this roaming might arrive, thanks to a recently-leaked ICS ROM for the Droid RAZR. While it's not clear exactly what software build we're looking at here, the takeaway seems to be that the update that will enable global roaming will likely be ...

Late last week, we started hearing some new rumblings about Verizon's plans for bringing global roaming to some of its Android lineup. We already knew that both the Motorola Droid 4 and LG's Spectrum would make the cut, and Verizon would activate their roaming abilities at some point in the future. The new leak that brought the issue back to the forefront last week concerned HTC's Rezound, with an in-store display advertising the pending arrival of global roaming as one of the handset's features. There were also rumors accompanying that find that Motorola's Droid RAZR (Maxx) would join ...

What's more annoying to a mobile-phone user than not having service? If you answered "nothing," you're right. And never is that truer than when a user is trying to share something. Like the awesome photo they just snapped from their courtside or ringside seats as the ... puck hit a ... home run ... through the fullback's legs. Okay, I don't do sports. But according to my basketball-savvy friends, we're in the midst of something called the "2012 playoff season," which I gather is a pretty big deal. In an effort to avoid butchering any sports terminology, I will put this succinctly: The ...

Samsung announced the Focus 2 Windows Phone on May 7 and promised to make it available starting May 20 so if you want to start your week off by getting a new device you should really look into this one. There's a four-inch Super AMOLED screen with WVGA resolution, five-megapixel camera with HD 720p video recording capability, and VGA webcam for video calls and Skype but the most important bit is that the phone supports 4G LTE connectivity. You can get all this for $49.99 given that you sign a two-year contract with AT&T if you somehow don't fancy the Nokia Lumia 900 or the HTC Titan ...

With the major US carriers already on-board with LTE or transitioning to it, you might think that we'd be seeing a new era of inter-carrier roaming and growing interest in unlocked handsets. After all, with LTE replacing HSPA+, EV-DO, and WiMAX, it should be easier than ever to find a phone that will work on multiple carriers, right? Unfortunately, that hasn't really transpired, and radios with incompatible frequency coverage continue to get in the way of the dream of a world where choosing the best smartphone has nothing to do with which carrier supports it. Things might be looking up in ...

NVIDIA's been talking for a while now about the SoCs it plans to introduce as follow-ups to the quad-core Tegra 3 we're now seeing in phones and tablets. There have been two distinct phases of these next-generation chips that the company's been preparing for, known by their codenames Wayne and Grey. As NVIDIA continues to share details about these chips, it's indicated a desire to branch out from Android and see Tegra-series components come to Windows Phone devices. One of the several differences between Wayne and Grey chips will be how they work with 4G data. Wayne will supposedly support ...